The son of Iran’s deposed shah has appealed to Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to intervene to help an Iranian activist detained in Italy who he says could face execution if he is extradited.

Reza Pahlavi, whose late father was toppled by the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, wrote to Renzi on Monday, two days after Mehdi Khosravi was arrested at a hotel in Lecco, near Lake Como in the Alpine north of Italy.

Lecco police said they had carried out an international arrest warrant issued by the Iranian government which sought to have Khosravi, 37, extradited “for the crime of corruption”.

Pahlavi wrote: “Any attempt to force Mr Khosravi’s return to Iran will lead to his incarceration, torture and possible conviction and execution as a political and human rights opposer of the regime.”

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He said Khosravi had been living in Britain as a political refugee since fleeing the Islamic Republic shortly after disputed elections in 2009.

“This critical humanitarian matter requires your indispensable intervention so that Mr Khosravi can return to the United Kingdom,” Pahlavi wrote.

A spokesman for Renzi directed a request for comment to Italy’s foreign ministry, which declined to comment.

Iran’s application of the death penalty, which has drawn repeated criticism from human rights organisations, leapt last year, according to the United Nations, which counted nearly 1,000 executions.